the Subject must have been before his humiliation. "By the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God he was taken by wicked hands, and crucified, and slain" (Acts ii. 23). By the same counsel and foreknowledge he was also originally ordained "to be the Judge of quick and dead" (Ib. x. 42), and was made heir of all things before they existed, and was their Maker also before they were made (Heb. i. 2) which may help to explain his petition, "And now, O Father; glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (John xvii. 5); and also that suggestion to his disciples, "What and if ye shall see the Son of man (not the Son of God) ascend up where he was before?" (Ib. vi. 62.)

If therefore we were to separate these two conditions, or, as they may be called, Lots of incidentals, the good or spiritual and the evil or temporal, inquiring on the remote and original cause of each,-as for example, first of the spiritual lot being also just and good; we should find, that all the superiority or precedence of Mary's son over other sons of God and over other men with or in whom God was (Isai. xlv. 14; Zech. viii. 23; Acts vii. 9; Cor. I. xiv. 25), as well as with or in him-proceeded from one and the same cause, being the Subject himself of whom we are considering the incarnate Word before he was revealed: as we read, "The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground: yea, I have a goodly heritage" (Ps. xvi. 7). For by the same Word he was both God of God; and all that has just been attributed to his definition with all besides that is any where attributed to him by the Word of God in divine Revelation, namely, That "according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. iii. 11) "the God of our Fathers raised up Jesus; whom (said St. Peter to the high priest and council) ye slew and hanged on a tree him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins" (Acts v. 30, 31). And having exalted the Subject to the dignity of a prince, God was also pleased

in the same counsel and for his sake, who gave himself for us, to include his followers; his, "who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works " (Tit. ii. 14): or that he might do in short all that he has done for us already to our knowledge, and a great deal more that may be inferred therefrom; especially the gift of repentance and forgiveness of sins, as aforesaid.

Hence it may appear too, how by the Will, Word or Purpose of God, as St. Paul likewise observes, "he is before all things, and by him all things consist " (Col. i. 17) as thẻ Word or Purpose of Creation with himself at the head of it: while in another sense "all things were created for him" (Ib. 16), namely, as first in the Word or Purpose of election, the beloved Son of the Father, in whom he is "well pleased" (Matt. iii. 17). The Father's Word, Will, Purpose, Pleasure, Predestination, Election, Choice, Ordinance -being the foundation, if not the very substance of every word or mode, as "it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Ib. iv. 4), we need not look any farther to comprehend the infinite superiority of this one over all other objects, as all other objects were ordained in a relation inferior and subservient to this. And one article or item of such superiority having just been considered in his " name above every name," with a second or counterpart in the corresponding notion.

3, Next among other heavenly, good, and justly due incidentals it will appear, that the Kingdom of Heaven itself, or the Empire of Truth, was his too; both as belonging to him incidentally, and also as his native rank or station in life: which made him tell Pilate, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice" (John xviii. 37): THAT IS MY KINGDOM, THESE

ARE MY SUBJECTS.

But that Kingdom had properly two ends or objects;

one, the honour and happiness of mankind in general; the other that of God's people or leavening family, the children of Israel in particular: whence it will appear, that the Subject inherited a twofold sovereignty agreeable to the occasion; one universal, as the Son of God and "Lord of all" (Acts x. 36); the other more special as the Son of David and King of Israel, understanding by Israel all whether home-born or stranger (Exod. xii. 49) who are members of the covenant and affiliated to Abraham by faith (Gal.iii. 7). For the schemes of Providence being wonderfully involved and having an endless effect through the rotation of causes, it may be inferred, that the special occasion of the Subject was also made subservient to the universal. Indeed we know that he is related to his Kingdom in every way imaginable; subjectively, objectively, finally and mediately; as a word or two with the enumeration of his names and titles above given may sufficiently demonstrate. For example;

-1, When speaking to his disciples of the Kingdom sometimes as it were in a casual way, he is observed to name it subjectively "My Father's" (Matt. xxvi. 29) and not Our Father's, as his exclusive inheritance; or 66 My Kingdom" (Luke xxii. 30), as his present possession; the rule of the Father and Son being here coeval and not consecutive as with common inheritances: which was his authority for appointing kingdoms to his disciples; as my Father hath appointed unto me” (Ib. 29).

Objectively he is now no longer related to the Kingdom as he was during the period of his submission and suffering upon earth; while he lay under the ban of Heaven, and looking up to it could say, "Thy rebuke hath broken my heart" (Ps. lxix. 21); as if he had sinned himself, but purely for the sins of others, being "wounded for OUR transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities" (Isai. liii. 5).

But

-3, Finally and mediately he ever has been and ever will be related to the Kingdom, as long as there shall be

any distinction in the same, or any room for improvement, or until having brought it at length to perfection and proved it by the experiment of a thousand years (Rev. xx. 4), he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father (Cor. I. xv. 24),-" that God (namely the Father, Son and Holy Ghost) may be all in all" (Ib. 28): which agrees with the saying of St. Peter, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, THAT HE MIGHT BRING US TO GOD" (Pet. I. iii. 18). He is "Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last" (Rev. i. 11): he is "all and in all" (Col. iii. 11); the Subject and Sovereign, the Medium, End and Object of his Kingdom. "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end" (Isai. ix. 7). His Kingdom is not confined to intellect: "the winds and the sea obey him" (Matt. viii. 27). "His dominion shall be also from the one sea to the other: and from the flood unto the world's end" (Ps. lxxii. 8). " He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David" (Luke i. 32). His celebrity will be like, and is even now fast approaching towards, the prediction concerning him that has just been repeated, of " a name above every name." For when that name was given according to the apostle's saying, "God hath given him a name," it was not even what it is at present, much less what it will be when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”(Isai. xi. 9). And where is there now, or where was there ever upon earth a man, whose name was so widely known, or held so high among the best judges, that is, among all the most civilized nations of the earth: though there are even among these but too many individuals with imaginations so fettered that they cannot see any credibility in a Word that is so far fulfilled before their eyes. "For (as the prophet says) the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes" (Ib. xxix. 10.) Or else how could any one at all acquainted with the his

tory of the present and former times help acknowledging the empire of the Word in others, if he will not allow it in himself; and how peculiarly the subject rules by his Spirit, transfusing the same every where into both ministers and congregations, or among the instruments as well as the objects of his government? They too who do not much mind the government of the Word because it seems so mild, may remember that even the mildest cannot subsist without judgment; and, that by the very Word which they now despise they will be judged hereafter (John xii. 48).

4, But it would not be allowed, perhaps, by every king or governor, that the incidental now to be ascribed to the subject was in rank or excellence above the last mentioned: that is to say, Merit above royalty; neither, perhaps, would many who plume themselves on the enjoyment of that incidental, be disposed to regard it in the distant relation in which it is here attributed even to the Son of God. Yet such a conclusion will not seem extravagant after the preceding remarks* on merit and guilt, attaching punctually to their principles and actions as the substance of persons: alluding also to the former, that is merit particularly; a few additional remarks on the property, and on its other relations also, may not be amiss while we are considering its relation to the Subject.

In the spiritual and eternal kingdom then, from which, it is to be remembered, the incidentals at this moment under consideration, the good, spiritual and due incidentals of the Subject are derived, merit is wealth, or the wealth of the Kingdom: merit is its treasury: "God is well known in her palaces as a sure refuge" (Ps. xlviii. 2). "The Lord himself is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou shalt maintain my lot" (Ib. xvi. 6). He both is and has the allotment of merit, as well as the disposing of worth; and by his Word the streams of both are directed through the intellectual spheres above and below, of Heaven and earth, to "a chosen generation, a royal * Vol. 1. p. 231,

&c.

VOL. III.

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